JP2012169854A - Image recording device and drive recorder system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording device that records information capable of speeding up display of a thumbnail of a recorded image file.SOLUTION: Image information acquisition means 12 acquires plural pieces of still image information in a time sequential order. An image recording device comprises specific information recording means 100 that, when image information recording means 170 records the plural pieces of still image information in recording means 30 as image information, records specific information 50 for specifying each piece of still image information from the image information in the recording means 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and a drive recorder system for recording information that can speed up the display of thumbnails of recorded image files.

  A drive recorder that records driving data of a vehicle together with image data is mounted on the vehicle. Data recorded by the drive recorder can be viewed by being transferred to a playback device by a recording medium or the like. At this time, a part of the image data is generally displayed as a thumbnail for convenience.

  Image data is reproduced as a moving image by continuously displaying individual data recorded in time series. Conventionally, image data at the head of this image data is displayed as a thumbnail. However, since the head portion does not always indicate the characteristics of the image data, it is inconvenient when displaying a list of image data.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 1, when the recording condition is established, the image information captured by the imaging unit is recorded on the recording medium, and the image information corresponding to the time when the recording condition is satisfied is used for thumbnail creation. A drive recorder specified as an image is disclosed.

JP 2010-183464 A

  When the thumbnail creation image is specified as a position in the middle of the image data as in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to read out all the image data in order to identify the thumbnail creation image, so that it takes time to display. .

  In addition, when the drive recorder records image data, a method of separately storing a thumbnail creation image is also conceivable, but in this case, it is necessary to secure an area for recording the thumbnail creation image on the recording medium, The time during which image data can be recorded is limited.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and provides an image recording apparatus and a drive recorder system for recording information that can display thumbnails without requiring a large processing time. Objective.

  The present invention relates to an image information acquisition unit that acquires image information, an impact detection unit that detects an impact, and an image that records on the recording unit the image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit when the impact detection unit detects an impact. An image recording apparatus comprising: an information recording unit, wherein the image information acquiring unit acquires a plurality of still image information in time series, and the image information recording unit records the plurality of still image information as image information in the recording unit. And a specific information recording unit for recording specific information for specifying each still image information from the image information in the recording unit.

  According to the present invention, each piece of still image information can be specified from the image information by specifying information recorded when the image information is recorded. Only one piece of still image information can be processed, and an increase in processing time can be prevented.

It is explanatory drawing of the drive recorder system containing the drive recorder of this invention of embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the drive recorder of the embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram of the personal computer of the embodiment of the present invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the drive recorder system of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the image file and thumbnail file which the drive recorder of embodiment of this invention records. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the thumbnail image which PC of embodiment of this invention displays.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a drive recorder system 1 including a drive recorder 10 of the present invention.

  The drive recorder system 1 includes a drive recorder 10 mounted on a vehicle 11, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a PC) 20 installed in a business office, and a memory card 30 that records data acquired by the drive recorder 10. Is done.

  The drive recorder 10 acquires travel data (for example, vehicle speed, engine speed, latitude, longitude, etc.) from the vehicle 11 and records them at predetermined intervals together with the date and time. The drive recorder 10 is connected to a camera 12 and records image data captured by the camera 12. These travel data and image data are recorded in the memory card 30.

  The drive recorder 10 includes a memory card interface 170 that writes and reads data to and from the memory card 30 with the memory card 30 inserted, and a record button 180 that artificially records image data on the memory card 30. Is provided.

  The PC 20 includes a memory card interface 21 that writes data to and reads data from the memory card 30 with the memory card 30 inserted, a display unit 22 that includes a liquid crystal display that can display image data, and the like. And an input unit 23 including a keyboard and a mouse that can input instructions from.

  The memory card 30 is configured to be readable and writable by the memory card interfaces 170 and 21, and for example, a flash memory card such as SD (Source Digital) or CF (Compact Flash) is used.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The drive recorder 10 includes a camera interface 120 that connects the camera 12, a vehicle interface 130 that acquires vehicle data by connecting to a vehicle CAN and the like, and a memory card interface 170 that reads and writes data with the memory card 30. A recording button 180 for recording image data and travel data on a memory card regardless of the occurrence of an event, which will be described later.

  In addition, the drive recorder 10 temporarily records image data, vehicle data, and the like, and also records a data 110 relating to control of the drive recorder 10 and an event for detecting occurrence of a predetermined event set in advance. A detection unit 140.

  The control unit 100 controls the operations of these units in an integrated manner. More specifically, the control unit 100 sequentially records the image data acquired via the camera interface 120 and the travel data acquired via the vehicle interface 130 in the buffer of the recording unit 110. That is, the camera 12 and the control unit 100 constitute an image information acquisition unit.

  Here, when the event detection unit 140 detects a predetermined event, the control unit 100 determines the predetermined time before and after the time when the event is detected among the image data and the travel data recorded in the buffer of the recording unit 110. Extract only time. The predetermined time is, for example, a total of 20 seconds, 12 seconds before event detection and 8 seconds after event detection.

  The control unit 100 records the extracted data as an image file on the memory card 30 via the memory card interface 170. That is, the memory card interface 170 and the control unit 100 constitute an image information recording unit.

  The event detection unit 140 includes an acceleration sensor. When the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, when the front-rear G or the lateral G becomes 0.8 G or more), the event detection unit 140 shocks the vehicle. It is determined that has been added and an event is detected. That is, the event detection unit 140 constitutes an impact detection unit.

  The record button 180 performs the same processing as when an event is detected when pressed by the driver, such as when the image detection is not performed by the event detection unit 140 and the image data is to be recorded in the memory card 30. Do. For example, even when the acceleration detected by the event detection unit 140 does not exceed a predetermined threshold value, data of a predetermined time before and after the time when the recording button 180 is pressed by pressing the recording button 180 by the driver. And this data can be recorded on the memory card 30.

  For connection between the camera 12 and the camera interface 120, an interface such as USB (Serial Universal Bus) is used. In the present embodiment, a configuration in which one camera 12 is connected to the drive recorder 10 is shown as an example. However, a plurality of cameras 12 are connected to the camera interface 120 and each camera is placed at an arbitrary position on the vehicle 11. May be installed. For example, one camera 12 may be installed so as to photograph the front of the vehicle, and the other camera 12 may be installed so as to photograph the rear of the vehicle and the vicinity of the driver in the passenger compartment.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the personal computer (PC) 20 according to the embodiment of this invention.

  The PC 20 is an image playback device that acquires image data recorded on a memory card inserted into the memory card interface 21 and plays back the acquired image data.

  The PC 20 includes an external interface 270. The external interface 270 includes a memory card interface 21 that writes and reads data, a display unit 22 that includes a liquid crystal display that can display image data and the like, and an input that includes a keyboard and a mouse that can input instructions from the user. Are connected to each other.

  The PC 20 includes a vehicle information setting unit 230 that sets the drive recorder 10 using the input unit 23, and a data acquisition unit 240 that acquires image data, travel data, and the like recorded in the memory card 30.

  The control unit 210 comprehensively controls these units. The recording unit 220 includes a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, a hard disk, and the like, and records data used by each unit controlled by the control unit 210.

  In the PC 20, the control unit 210 reads the software recorded in the recording unit 220 and executes the software, whereby the vehicle information setting unit 230 and the data acquisition unit 240 are configured.

  Further, for example, a USB or the like is used for connection between the external interface 270 and the memory card interface 21 or the input unit 23. For connection between the external interface 270 and the display unit 22, for example, an interface such as DVI (Digital Visual Interface) or HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is used.

  Next, the operation of the drive recorder system 1 configured as described above will be described.

  In the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the event detection unit 140 detects an event such as an impact, the control unit 100 detects an event from the image data recorded in the buffer of the recording unit 110. Image data for a predetermined time before and after the time (for example, 12 seconds before and 8 seconds after the event detection) is extracted, and the extracted data is written in the memory card 30 as an image file.

  Thereafter, after the driving of the vehicle 11 is completed, the memory card 30 is inserted into the memory card interface 21 of the PC 20. The PC 20 reads the image file recorded on the memory card 30 based on a reproduction request from the user, and reproduces the image on the display unit 22.

  In the PC 20, the control unit 210 displays a list of image data recorded on the memory card 30 on the display unit 22. At this time, not only the file name and recording date / time of the image file but also the thumbnail of the image file are displayed. Thereby, for example, even when a plurality of image files exist, the user can identify the target image file.

  By the way, the conventional drive recorder system performs the following method when displaying thumbnails of image files.

  There is a method of displaying image data at the top of an image file as a thumbnail. In this method, the head portion does not always indicate the characteristics of the recorded image file, so that it is difficult to distinguish especially when a plurality of image files are displayed in a list, which is inconvenient.

  There is also a method for specifying an image for thumbnail creation as a position in an image file. In this case, since it is necessary to read all the image data in order to specify the thumbnail creation image, it takes time to display.

  In addition, when the drive recorder 10 records an image file, there is a method in which a feature portion of an image (for example, an image when an event is detected) is separately recorded as a thumbnail creation image. In this case, it is necessary to secure an area for recording the thumbnail creation image in the memory card 30, and the time during which the image file can be recorded is limited.

  Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, a thumbnail image is displayed without spending time for image file reading processing and without limiting the capacity of the memory card 30 by the following operation. Configured.

  FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an operation of the drive recorder system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  First, the user inserts the memory card 30 into the memory card interface 21 of the PC 20 (S100), and sets vehicle information.

  In the PC 20, the vehicle information setting unit 230 displays a GUI on the display unit 22, and receives an input such as a user ID from a user (administrator) (S101). The vehicle information setting unit 230 writes the input user ID into the memory card 30 (S102). The memory card 30 records the written user ID (S103).

  The user ID set by the vehicle information setting unit 230 is an ID number that individually sets the vehicle 11 on which the drive recorder 10 is mounted. For example, a vehicle number unique to the vehicle 11 may be registered as a user ID, or information individually set for a driver driving the vehicle 11 may be added to the ID number.

  The user removes the memory card 30 from the PC 20 and inserts it into the memory card interface 170 of the drive recorder 10 (S104).

  In the drive recorder 10, when the control unit 100 detects that the memory card 30 is inserted into the memory card interface 170, the control unit 100 acquires the user ID recorded in the memory card 30 and records it in the recording unit 110 (S105). ).

  When the control unit 100 detects that the driving of the vehicle 11 is started with the memory card 30 inserted in the memory card interface 170, the control unit 100 starts recording the image data and the traveling data in the buffer of the recording unit 110 (S106). ). In the embodiment of the present invention, the image data is obtained by sequentially acquiring a plurality of still image information in chronological order, and the still image information is JPEG format image data. In addition, the control part 100 detects having started the driving | operation of the vehicle 11, when the vehicle speed acquired from the vehicle interface 130 exceeds 0 [km / h], for example.

  Further, the buffer of the recording unit 110 is configured as a FIFO, and when the recorded data reaches the upper limit of the buffer capacity, the data with the oldest recording time is discarded.

  When the event detection unit 140 detects an event during the driving of the vehicle 11 (S107), the control unit 100 detects before and after the time when the event is detected from the image data and the travel data recorded in the recording unit 110. The data for a predetermined time (for example, before and after 20 seconds) is extracted, and the extracted data is written as an image file in the memory card 30.

  Note that the event detection unit 140 detects that an event has occurred, for example, when the front and rear G or the lateral G is 0.8 G or more. If no event is detected, the recording of the image data and the running data is continued.

  When it is detected that an event has occurred, the control unit 100 extracts data for a predetermined time before and after the time when the event is detected. The extracted data is created as an image file. In this image file, still image information (JPEG images) for a predetermined time before and after the time when the event is detected is recorded in chronological order (S108).

  Here, the control unit 100 creates a thumbnail file corresponding to the created image file. The thumbnail file is a recording of specific information for specifying the position (address) and size (number of bytes) from the beginning of the image file for each JPEG image included in the created image file. is there.

  Next, the control unit 100 writes the created image file and the created thumbnail file to the memory card 30 via the memory card interface 170 (S109). The memory card 30 records the written file (S110). At this time, the image file may be encrypted and recorded.

  After the driving of the vehicle 11 is finished, the user removes the memory card 30 from the drive recorder 10 and inserts it into the memory card interface 21 of the PC 20 (S111).

  In the PC 20, the control unit 210 first reads out the thumbnail file recorded in the memory card 30 via the memory card interface 21 and the external interface 270 (S112).

  At this time, the control unit 210 refers to the thumbnail file, and specifies the position and size on the image file for each JPEG image recorded in time series in the image file recorded on the memory card 30. .

  Then, the control unit 210 selects one or a plurality of JPEG images from among the identified JPEG images, and displays them as thumbnail images of the image files on the display unit 22 via the external interface 270 (S113). . When a plurality of image files are recorded on the memory card 30, thumbnail images are displayed for each of the plurality of image files.

  The user of the PC 20 visually recognizes the contents of the image file from the thumbnail image displayed on the display unit 22. When it is desired to reproduce the image file, the image file is selected by the input unit 23 and a reproduction request is input.

  When the PC 20 receives a playback request for an image file from the user via the external interface 270, the PC 20 acquires the image file recorded on the memory card 30 via the memory card interface 21 and the external interface 270, and acquires the acquired image file. The image file is reproduced on the display unit 22.

  Through the processing described above, the drive recorder 10 creates a thumbnail file when recording as an image file, and the PC 20 can obtain a thumbnail image from the image file by referring to the recorded thumbnail file.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of image files and thumbnail files recorded by the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment of this invention.

  In the process of step S108 in FIG. 4, when creating the image file 40, the control unit 100 of the drive recorder 10 separately creates a thumbnail file 50 as shown in FIG.

  In the image file 40, JPEG images of a predetermined time before and after the time when the event is detected (for example, 12 seconds before and 8 seconds after) are recorded in chronological order.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5, 300 JPEG images are recorded in 20 seconds. The JPEG image recorded from the top 180th is the image data recorded when the event occurs. Since each JPEG image has an indefinite length depending on the compression state, the file size of the image file 40 becomes an indefinite length.

  The thumbnail file 50 is a combination of the start address of each JPEG image included in the image file and the file size of the JPEG image. This set is recorded for all JPEG images.

  By referring to the thumbnail file, the PC 20 can specify the position and size of each JPEG image included in the image file. Therefore, it is possible to read only the specified JPEG image without reading the entire image file. It becomes.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of thumbnail images displayed by the PC 20 according to the embodiment of this invention.

  FIG. 6A is an example of a thumbnail image when a plurality of JPEG images are displayed on the display unit 22 at predetermined time intervals from an image file recorded on the memory card 30.

  The control unit 210 of the PC 20 specifies positions and sizes of a plurality of JPEG images corresponding to times at predetermined time intervals from the thumbnail file recorded on the memory card 30. Then, only the specified JPEG image is read from the image file and displayed on the display unit 22.

  By displaying thumbnail images at predetermined time intervals of an image file, the image file time series can be easily grasped. It is also possible to grasp the situation before and after the event occurrence.

  FIG. 6B is an example of a thumbnail image when a plurality of image files are recorded on the memory card 30 and displayed on the display unit 22 corresponding to each image file.

  The control unit 210 of the PC 20 specifies the position and size of the JPEG image corresponding to the event occurrence time on the image file from the thumbnail file recorded on the memory card 30. Then, only the specified JPEG image is read from the image file and displayed on the display unit 22.

  By displaying the JPEG image at the event occurrence time as a thumbnail for each image file recorded in the memory card 30, the most characteristic part of the image file can be displayed. Thereby, for example, even when a plurality of cameras 12 are provided in the vehicle, they can be displayed in a list.

  In the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above, image data is acquired by the camera 12 provided in the traveling vehicle 11, and the image data is acquired when an event such as an impact is detected by the event detection unit 140. The drive recorder for recording in the memory card 30 is configured to record specific information when recording an image file.

  With this configuration, when reproducing an image file, only the still image information specified by the specific information can be read without reading the entire image file, and the processing time for displaying the thumbnail image is large. Can be prevented.

  In particular, since the specific information includes information for specifying the position and size in the file, the still image information included in the image file can be easily specified, and a thumbnail can be displayed using the specified still image information. it can. In particular, when a plurality of JPEG images are recorded in time series order, the JPEG file has an indefinite length, but by specifying the position and size in the image file, a specific JPEG can be read without reading the entire image file. Images can be acquired, and an increase in processing time when displaying thumbnails can be prevented. Furthermore, by using this thumbnail display, fast-forwarding, rewinding, etc. when playing back as a moving image can be performed without increasing the processing time.

  It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes various modifications and improvements that can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

1 Drive Recorder System 10 Drive Recorder 11 Vehicle 12 Camera 20 Personal Computer (PC)
30 memory card 100 control unit 210 control unit

Claims (5)

Image information acquisition means for acquiring image information, impact detection means for detecting an impact, and image information recording for recording the image information acquired by the image information acquisition means when the impact detection means detects an impact in a recording means An image recording apparatus comprising:
The image information acquisition means acquires a plurality of still image information in chronological order,
When the image information recording unit records the plurality of still image information as the image information in the recording unit, specific information for specifying each of the still image information included in the image information is stored in the recording unit. An image recording apparatus comprising: specific information recording means for recording. The image recording means records in the recording means as an image file in which the plurality of still image information are arranged in time series,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specifying information includes information specifying a position and a size of each of the plurality of still image information in the image file.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the still image information is a JPEG image. Image information acquisition means for acquiring image information, impact detection means for detecting an impact, and a plurality of still image information acquired by the image information acquisition means in time series when the impact detection means detects an impact. Image information recording means for recording in the recording means, and specifying information for specifying each of the still image information included in the image information when the image information recording means records the image information in the recording means Specific information recording means for recording in the recording means, a drive recorder comprising:
Reproducing means for reproducing the image information recorded in the recording means on a display unit, and specifying one or a plurality of the still image information from the image information with reference to the specific information recorded in the recording means, and the specifying Thumbnail display means for displaying the displayed still image information on the display unit, and an image playback device,
A drive recorder system comprising: The image recording means records in the recording means as an image file in which the plurality of still image information are arranged in time series,
The specifying information includes information for specifying a position and a size in the image file of each of the plurality of still image information,
The thumbnail display means refers to the specifying means recorded in the recording means, specifies the position and size of one or more of the still image information, and obtains only the specified still image information from the image file 5. The drive recorder system according to claim 4, wherein the acquired still image information is displayed.